Format revamp suggestion
I was also watching the Noreena Hertz trainwreck on Question Time and it reminded me of my idea for livening up this horribly tired format.
Basically, the whole thing should be conducted in the Watchdog studio, in front of its ranks of desk-researchers who would be looking things up in the background as the show went on. Then, you would dedicate the last ten minutes of every program to David Dimbleby reading out a short summary of the lies and misrepresentations made by each panellist in the preceding hour.
Reminds me of the bit in one of the Hitchhikers' Guide books where they give the guy an overdose of the truth drug before he testifies in court. He just keeps telling the truth, more and more of it, until he drives everyone insane except for a journalist who makes an excuse and leaves early.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good idea. It could be presented with video highlights of the claims followed by the facts.
ReplyDeleteI think a nice final touch would be if the show ended with Dimbleby throwing up in the air a sack of money equivalent to how much he earns per show.
That sack of money idea is too good to be restricted to one not very popular program like Question Time. They should do it on the news.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a quiz show which had that as its principle (i.e. successful contestants reduced the quizmaster's appearance fee)? I think it had Ben Stein in the States and Jeremy Beadle in the UK..
ReplyDeleteThey should also have the crawler from the Presidential debates going all through Question Time.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, the presenter with the highest score could then have to step outside and explain themselves to several thousand Egyptians.
ReplyDeletehe drives everyone insane except for a journalist who makes an excuse and leaves early.
ReplyDeleteAnother joke, like "Ford Prefect", which has not aged well; "made my excuses and left" was a News of the World cliché used in articles by journalists who had gone undercover to Dens of Vice.
"Made my excuses and left" was still current in the NOTW in the early 2000s - haven't read the filthy rag in a decade so no idea whether that's still the case.
ReplyDeleteThe panellists should be introduced by an inhumanly cheerful disembodied voice (as there used to be on 'Blind Date') reciting the names of all the participants'relatives who work or used to work for the broadcaster. Starting with Dimbleby, obviously, but, I see from Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete'Hertz is engaged to Danny Cohen, the Channel controller of BBC One', Melanie Philips 'is married to Joshua Rozenberg, former legal affairs correspondent for the BBC', Andy Burnham's wife 'was formerly head of marketing at MTV and BSkyB'.
I couldn't believe the quality of the Egypt segment. Clare Short(!) was the only one who came close to getting anything right.
ReplyDeleteBUT the most amazing thing was the way everyone was talking about it as though we had significant influence over the situation.
ReplyDelete